Penny Polendina/History
RWBY Vytal Festival Weiss accidentally knocks over Penny while chasing after Sun in an alleyway in Vale. She greets them while still lying on the ground until Yang prompts her to get up and introduce herself to Team RWBY. They are all a bit weirded out by her mannerisms and begin leaving, with Ruby off-handedly calling her "friend" as a parting gesture. As they begin walking away Penny suddenly appears in front of them, much to their shock, and inquires about whether Ruby and her were really friends. When Ruby nervously agrees (against her other teammates' judgement) Penny instantly becomes very excited and overbearing at the thought, creeping the team out further. After she mentions that she is there to fight in the tournament Weiss starts interrogating her about Sun and makes an off-handed remark about him that annoys Blake. This remark eventually leads to a full-blown argument between Weiss and Blake, as Penny, Ruby, and Yang watch on. The next morning, Ruby, Weiss and Yang are looking for Blake, when Penny randomly and inexplicably appears before them and offers to help Ruby find Blake. While Penny is talking to Ruby, Yang and Weiss vanish, leaving Ruby alone with Penny. Penny spends the rest of her day asking Ruby questions about Blake's relationship while they try to find her. Ruby tells Penny that she and Blake are friends, but that she isn't so sure what Blake is because she had been keeping a secret from them. Penny replies that she doesn't have many friends, but if she did she would want them to talk to her. At nighttime, Ruby sees a nearby explosion and she and Penny go to investigate. They find Blake and Sun fighting Roman Torchwick. Ruby prepares to fight, but as she is warning Penny to stay back, Roman shoots her with an explosive projectile. Angered by this, Penny steps forward to face Roman, despite Ruby trying to dissuade her. Penny reveals her weapons, a collection of identical swords that she controls with puppet strings, and leaps into the fray, defeating numerous White Fang goons. Two Bullheads open fire on Penny, but she deflects the bullets with her swords and anchors two swords into a nearby wall to pull herself out of firing range. She then shifts her swords into a blaster-like configuration, forming a massive beam of energy that takes out the two Bullheads. The third Bullhead attempts to escape with a Dust shipment, but Penny embeds her swords in its side and pulls the Bullhead to the ground using the attached strings, much to Ruby's amazement. After the battle, Penny is seen sitting cross-legged on a crate when Yang and Weiss arrive, but mysteriously vanishes while the others are talking. She is later seen in a nearby car talking to an unnamed man, who assures her that her time will come. ;Episodes Covering These Events *The Stray *Black and White Team RWBY's Investigation When Ruby drops her Scroll trying to get a picture of the CCT Tower, Penny picks it up in front of her stating she dropped it, unaware it belonged to Ruby. After realizing this fact and Ruby addresses her in shock, Penny hesitates while Ruby begins to rant about Penny's sudden disappearance at the docks. Penny nervously plays ignorant, stating she is confused, as an abrupt hiccup shakes the Scroll out of her hands, and, in nervous haste, Penny retreats. Ruby pursues Penny down the flights of stairs on the tower grounds, trying to get answers as to Penny's absence, to which Penny continues to play ignorant. It is when Ruby stops Penny at the bottom of the stairs, explaining the worries she has involving the people Penny fought and their intentions, and asks Penny to tell her as a friend, that Penny sighs in acceptance. After a quick scan of the grounds, Penny walks up and whispers to Ruby it's not safe to talk there. Shortly afterward, Penny anxiously waits at a café within the city, where Ruby meets up with her and both share a smile. Later, Penny walks with Ruby down a city sidewalk, stating she would like to help Ruby out with her investigation, but cannot because she doesn't know who she fought. Ruby interjects about her disappearance asking if she was kidnapped, to which Penny alleviates. Penny then tells Ruby she had never been to another kingdom before and was asked not to venture far by her father, and explains he worries about her though he loves her, to which Ruby conveys her understanding. When asked why she couldn't tell Ruby or her friends her safety, Penny states she was asked not to talk to anyone by someone other than her father. As they reach the end of the city block, their conversation is interrupted by a demonstration of the new Atlesian Knight-200s and the Atlesian Paladin-290 promotion from afar. While Ruby watches the demonstration in awe, Penny nervously asks Ruby for her attention, to no avail. When Penny finally states they should go somewhere else, both are spotted by two blue Atlas Soldiers positioned near the demonstration, to which Penny runs away in response towards the alley. When Penny and Ruby had a considerable distance from the soldiers, and Ruby spots another alley opening, Ruby wall-runs to catch up to Penny and grabs her. Telling Penny to hold on, Ruby uses her speed to launch both through the alley, though she has difficulty doing so and collapses at the end of the alley. Though Penny lands within the alley, Ruby rolls out of the alley into the middle of the road where a "From Dust Till Dawn" storage truck is about to hit her. To save Ruby, Penny lunges out, pushing Ruby out of the street and stopping the truck in place with her bare hands. Penny asks if the driver is okay, only to find Ruby in shock of what transpired and a group of people gathering at the scene. After looking at her hands and in a panic, Penny sprints past Ruby as Ruby tries to chase her down, while the soldiers are held back by the group of people blocking the alley. Penny finally stops at a clearing, still in a panic. When Ruby finally catches up to her, Ruby begins asking questions about what happened. Penny states everything is fine, hiccupping again, and tells Ruby she doesn't want to talk about it as she hides her hands in her arms. Though Penny said Ruby wouldn't understand, Ruby persistently asks Penny to tell her so she can help. Penny then turns to her, promisingly asking if Ruby was her friend, to which Ruby promises. Calming herself, Penny shows her hands to Ruby, showing large portions of the skin torn away revealing a metallic structure underneath, and said she is not a real girl. She explains she was made, rather than born, as the first synthetic person capable of generating an aura. Though Penny considers herself not to be, Ruby reassures her of being real - of having a heart and soul regardless of what she's made of - while Penny is surprised at Ruby's unexpectedly positive reaction to her. Overjoyed at Ruby's remarks, Penny tightly hugs Ruby for being a best friend. When Ruby remarks on how her father would be so protective, Penny releases Ruby, explaining her father was the one who built her, with help from General Ironwood, and the soldiers chasing her were only trying to protect her. Penny also states one day she would have to save the world, but isn't ready yet, which is why her father allowed her to visit other kingdoms, meet new people, and participate in the tournament in order to learn and test herself. However, when Ruby asks why the world needed saving since they're in a time of peace, Penny states it wasn't what Ironwood said. When the soldiers closed in on them, Penny said Ruby needed to hide, grabbing and throwing her into a nearby garbage bin. Penny tells Ruby she'll be fine since the soldiers are not bad people and doesn't want Ruby to get in trouble, but asks that Ruby keep her promise to not tell anyone else about Penny's secret. After Ruby promises, Penny closes the lid on the bin, just before greeting the soldiers who finally caught up to Penny in the alley. When the soldiers interrogate her for why she ran and who she was with, Penny again played ignorant, saying she was all by herself, followed by another hiccup. After being lectured and showing her torn hands to the soldiers, Penny left with them out of the alleyway into their custody. ;Episodes Covering These Events *A Minor Hiccup *Painting the Town... Category:History pages